When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Fifty years after NASA won the “space race” with the Apollo 11 moon landing, the agency hopes to revamp its lunar exploration program with the help of international partners. . | Credit: NASAThis article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The vision of mining space for resources is no longer science fiction. The moon’s proximity to Earth and the presence of precious resources make it an increasingly attractive prospect for exploitation.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementResources thought to be present on the moon include uranium, potassium, phosphorus, water ice, platinum group metals and helium-3. The last of these is a rare isotope that could help power relatively clean fusion energy in future.There are billions of dollars in it for companies able to kickstart mining operations, even if such returns are still years away. Technological breakthroughs in launch and exploration capabilities are occurring at breakneck pace. In the US, Seattle-based startup Interlune, working with Iowa industrial manufacturer Vermeer, is developing an electric lunar excavator designed to extract helium-3.Their prototype can process up to 100 metric tons of lunar soil per hour. Interlune plans a 2027 mission to confirm helium-3 concentrations before deploying a pilot plant in 2029.The Pittsburgh-based space company Astrobotic is developing the Griffin-1 lander to transport a rover designed by the California-based company Astrolab for surface analysis. A different lander called Nova-C, built by Intuitive Machines in Houston, is being designed to conduct analysis of lunar soil and rock under Nasa’s Prism programme. Prism is a science and technology initiative designed to support various aspects of lunar exploration.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, Nasa’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (Prime-1), which was carried to the moon this year by an Intuitive Machines lander, demonstrated Honeybee Robotics’ Trident drill on the lunar surface. Trident both drills and extracts samples of lunar soil.SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket, which has a large payload capacity and reusable design, could send multiple large experiments to the moon, and cut launch costs by as much as US$250–US$600 (£188-£451) per kg. Assuming it overcomes its teething problems, Starship could be the game changer that makes large-scale lunar infrastructure and resource missions economically viable.While US-led initiatives have been commonplace in lunar exploration, new political and corporate players are emerging globally. China aims to achieve human lunar landings by 2030, with plans for the robotic construction of lunar bases in partnership with Russia and other nations. This would establish an international Lunar Research Station by 2035.An illustration of the electric lunar harvester, developed by Interlune, designed to mine minerals on the moon. | Credit: InterluneAustralia’s 2026 rover will put its mining expertise to work extracting oxygen and collecting soil on the moon, while Japan’s Slim mission focuses on precision landings that can target resource-rich areas. At the same time ispace, a Japanese company, is developing a mini rover to explore lunar resources.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn the EU, the Argonaut programme is developing the ESA (European Space Agency)’s first lunar lander, with the involvement of a growing body of industrial enterprises across Europe. These missions are critical for gathering data and capabilities needed to understand what’s actually available on the moon and how we might one day mine it.Frozen treatiesYet despite evolving technical capabilities, the international legal framework governing exploitation of the moon is both very limited and frozen in the Cold War era. The 1967 outer space treaty established that space cannot be subject to national appropriation, but debate remains as to whether this prohibition extends to private entities extracting resources.More in ScienceThe treaty’s article I declares exploration shall benefit “all mankind”, yet provides no mandatory mechanism for sharing benefits, leaving it entirely to nations that have conducted activities to decide how, or whether, to share benefits at all.The 1979 moon agreement attempted to designate lunar resources as the “common heritage of mankind” and establish an international regime for exploitation. This agreement rece …
